Thursday, October 16, 2008

Season Preview: Memphis Grizzlies

Starting 5:
PG- Mike Conley
SG- OJ Mayo
SF- Rudy Gay
PF- Hakim Warrick
C- Darko Milicic

Off the bench
Guards: Kyle Lowry, Javaris Crittenton, Marko Jaric
Forwards: Darrell Arthur, Greg Buckner, Quinton Ross, Antoine Walker, Brent Petaway
Centers: Marc Gasol, Hamed Haddadi

The Grizzlies have been something of the laughing stock of the NBA for a while now, well, now until OKC decided to call their team the Thunder. They will be most well known now for ensuring Lakers title contention by trading Pau Gasol away for Kwame Brown's expiring contract, Javaris Crittenton, the rights to Marc Gasol, and Aaron McKie. Meaning all they have left now, is Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, and cap space. There's a lot of talent on this team, I'm a Rudy Gay fan, despite the fact that his UConn Huskies defeated Brandon Roy's UW Huskies in the NCAA tournament (I'm a UW Alum). The biggest question is if Rudy Gay can step it up to the next level and really carry a team. Sophomore Mike Conley seems to have won the starting spot, and despite the injuries that plagued him last season, I like the numbers that he can put up. He won't be All-Star caliber, but he's serviceable and what I consider an above average starting point, you certainly could do a lot worse.

From there, everything sort of curtails into potential and hopes that that potential is realized. Darko has pretty much been deemed a draft bust, more because expectations I think were too high than that he's actually that bad. He's a serviceable player, just don't expect 20-10 from him night in and night out. Antoine Walker, well, is Antoine Walker, he takes up space and a lot of cap space, similar to Marko Jaric, except he doesn't bring as much to the floor, or a supermodel girlfriend to the area. Anyways, in terms of basketball, Marc Gasol and OJ Mayo have shown they can play, but if that carries over consistently into the regular season remains yet to be seen. All we've seen thusfar is play from Euroleague, NCAA, and the preseason (in the case of Marc Gasol, yes the Olympics as well). Marc Gasol hopefully can pan out to be almost as good as his brother, and man the middle. OJ Mayo, well, they were willing to throw Mike Miller into a package for him, which is really saying a lot about how much they like him. Worse case scenario he turns into a DeShawn Stevenson, actually, that's pretty bad. Hamed Haddaddi will get his taste of NBA action, after being cleared by US Customs to come over from Iran, he looked good in his league, but again, it's a matter of how much of his game is lost in translation.

Potential and upside team yet once again. They've been that for a while. When will they realize that potential? Who knows?

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Season Preview: Charlotte Bobcats

Only a couple more weeks!!!

Starting 5:
PG- Raymond Felton
SG- Jason Richardson
SF- Gerald Wallace
PF- Sean May
C- Emeka Okafor

Off the bench
Guards: DJ Augustin
Forwards: Matt Carroll, Jared Dudley, Adam Morrison, Shannon Brown, Jermario Davidson
Centers: Nazr Mohammed, Alexis Ajinca, Ryan Hollins, Andre Brown

I don't know, but this teams looks like it should be doing a lot better than it actually has been. I like Jason Richardson, and in terms of production, Charlotte looks like it got the better end of the deal on what was essentially a Jason Richardson for Brandon Wright straight swap. The offense should continue to run through J-Rich, though how that will work is up to the new coach: Larry Brown. If we look at the roster, the draft choice of DJ Augustin doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, and seemed to imply that Raymond Felton would be soon departing, but there's nothing for certain yet. Gerald Wallace has expressed that he refuses to play the PF position since he seems to always get concussions while doing so, and there was word out that Michael Jordan is less than pleased with his performance. Honestly, I think if any player merits a Scottie Pippen comparison it's Wallace, a lot of people forget about his defense and only point to his poor shot selection, that, and the fact that he's on the Bobcats makes his accomplishments forgettable. So here I remind you, Wallace is known for his defense first. Okafor is another solid guy that just hasn't been able to find his groove. He has the size of a power forward but plays like a center. Some say that the answer is to play a center next to him, but I feel like that's not the answer, unless you use him like a Tim Duncan kind of guy, but even Tim Duncan is effective out of the paint. We'll see, Okafor is still young, so he still has a ways to grow.

The bench isn't horrible, but it's not great. I've never really liked Adam Morrisson and nothing about him now is leading me to change my mind. Matt Carroll is a hard working but not really all that impressive to me, however, he's a solid contributor. With Wallace injured often, we saw flashes of brilliance from Jared Dudley, if he could become a solid contributor and consistent, then that'd be great. Nazr Mohammed, well, is Nazr Mohammed. With starter's minutes he put up monster production for a bit last season, and then was promptly benched, no one's ever really sure what to do with him. Look for DJ Augustin to develop as a rookie, and if Larry Brown likes him better, which arguably he does, and his game develops enough, then he could easily supplant Felton as the starting point. Things don't bode well when a 40 year old Michael Jordan shows up to practice and rocks all your players, however, we'll see. Hopefully Sean May can get back in shape. However, while this team looks good, it's also looking for a clue. I'm not really sure where they're going either.

Season Preview: Sacramento Kings

I'm really not sure why, but I keep forgetting that this team exists.  Fortunately, today, I remembered that they're there.  Here we go:

Starting 5:
PG- Beno Udrih
SG- Kevin Martin
SF- Francisco Garcia
PF- Mikki Moore
C- Brad Miller

Off the bench
Guards: Bobby Jackson, Quincy Douby, Bobby Brown
Forwards: John Salmons, Bobby Jones, Donte Greene, Kenny Thomas, Shelden Williams
Centers: Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson

When you take a second look at this team, it actually doesn't really look all that bad.  I mean, okay, you're starting Mikki Moore, things could be more ideal than that, but still it's not horrible.  Kevin Martin is a legitimate All-Star caliber talent (some say the real "Blue Light Special"), and I really like Francisco Garcia and John Salmons.  With Ron Artest and Mike Bibby now both gone, I look for Salmons and Garcia to pick up a lot of the slack.  Udrih was a pleasant surprise, and has earned a starting spot.  He's no stud that's going to light up the floor with brilliance, but he's above-average, which is harder to find than one might think in a point guard.  All in all, the team doesn't look half-bad.

That being said, it doesn't really look half-good either.  I think this team is similar to Indiana, in that it has players that everyone likes, but it's just a really average team.  Spencer Hawes still needs to find his game, Kenny Thomas needs to get off the books, and I'm not really sure what to make of Donte Greene yet.  Sure he scored 41 at a Summer League game, but obviously that wasn't enough for Houston to want to keep him.  Bobby Jackson is a solid backup, and I'm a big Bobby Jones fan, maybe it's because he's from UW.  That being said, I can't say I know how much to make of this team, they're solid, but not exceptional, which is what you have to be nowadays in the West to get anywhere.  So I'll stand by my intial gut reaction kind of assessment:  The Indiana Pacers of the West.

35-47